LinkBut I am getting ahead of myself. First, we must acknowledge that we live in an unequal society that systematically oppresses certain groups of people. This oppression is manifested as racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism, ableism and classism among others. I am unable to count the number of times I have been told that oppression no longer exists in this country, and certainly not on college campuses.
As one example, people often assert that women no longer are oppressed. In a society in which one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime and one in five women have experienced attempted or completed rape, how is this argument feasible? I cannot count on both hands the number of women I know on campus who have been sexually abused and/or assaulted. Similarly, there is abundant evidence highlighting the oppression of people of color, the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, transgender, queer/questioning) community, the poor, minority religions and people with disabilities.
